Jokic knew that if Pang Bo jumped, he wouldn't be able to stop him at all. His only option was to keep Pang Bo grounded as much as possible, so he moved a step to Pang Bo's left, trying to hold his position.
After a powerful left-handed dribble, Pang Bo quickly pulled the ball across and spun.
He used Jokic as his pivot.
Pang Bo's entire body rolled around Jokic, sending him directly to the side. Then Pang Bo leaped high and, with a thunderous shout, slammed the ball into the basket with both hands.
On the sideline, Knicks head coach Thibodeau frowned slightly at the sight.
Usually, when players were double-teamed, they would immediately pass to the open Zhang Jiacheng. But the Raptors did the opposite. With a bit of movement and misdirection, they cleared out the paint, leaving it to Pang Bo to go one-on-one with Jokic.
Pang Bo was still nowhere near good enough to blow past Jokic, but even so, Jokic had a hard time defending him one-on-one.
Thinking of this, Thibodeau looked at Wang Yi on the court.
No one had expected that pass.
At the same time, he realized the Raptors had clearly rehearsed this play. They hadn't used it much during the Regular Season, but there was no doubt they had practiced the movement they'd just made.
Even so, Thibodeau didn't change his defensive strategy again.
He still told his players to stick with the plan of double-teaming Wang Yi.
He would rather let Wang Yi pass the ball and have the others score than let that lunatic run wild with the ball.
In short, Thibodeau had now settled on one firm belief: *I'll accept it if the rest of you beat us, but I absolutely won't let that lunatic Wang Yi run